Communicating, connecting and influencing in the Conversation Age

Good article on CNN.com about the CEO as blogger. CEO bloggers Points out that 30 of the Fortune 500 companies have CEOs that blog. Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's CEO, is once again held up as the prime model. That's double the number from a year ago, but also raises a logical question: what about the other 470 CEOs? My guess is that most still don't buy into the power of this platform, or they don't have time. Or both. There's another possibility: maybe they don't write well. In any case, it's too bad. As the article points out, executive blogs can serve as a goldmine for a senior executive who wants to cut through the PR smoke and mirrors and connect with his/her investors, customers, employees and more. Let's hope this goes a little faster.

Good post
by Jane Genova on the changing role of executive speechwriters. Actually the
pure “speechwriter” has always been a rare species, employed mostly by Fortune
500 companies, big shot politicians and well heeled business people. This may
have added to the aura and mystique. You may think of middle-aged, bearded white men,
isolated in their own thoughts, pencil in hand, gazing at their computer
screens, on the verge of inventing the NEXT GREAT LINE, one that will bring
the audience to their feet, elevating their speaker to dizzying new heights.
Jane uses Steve Jobs’ college commencement speech last summer at Stanford University as an example. This is the
one where he ended with that great catch line: “stay hungry, stay foolish.”
Surely, a clever speechwriter coined that line.

The reality
is that the market for written “speeches” is probably pretty stagnant, and may
be declining. By comparison, Powerpoint
“presentations” have exploded the last decade. So have the new communications
needs, as Jane pointed out, counseling senior executives on everything from the
type of media to use to tone. This has opened the market for executive
communications managers and consultants, most of whom spend less time
actually “writing” speeches and a lot of time supporting execs in other ways,
including developing presentations.

One thing
is clear: the world is changing for all corporate communicators.